After breakfast, we headed to the ground for a meeting and warm-up before the 10:00 AM kickoff against Guangzhou Evergrande Football School.
<Today's Match Result: Ranking Tournament vs Guangzhou Evergrande Football School 10:00 AM Kickoff>
First half 1-1
Second half 1-1
Total 2-2 (PK 4-5)
Goal scorers: Fukuhara, Ito
Starting Members
GK: Chiba FP: Yamaguchi, Okita, Fukuhara, Kobayashi, Murayama, Ishizu, Fuchigami, Funasaki, Iizuka, Kikuchi Substitutes: Ito, Isora
In the pre-match meeting, we reconfirmed the players' characteristics by watching yesterday's footage.
Naturally, as we were in a completely away situation, I also emphasized the mental aspect.
We were worried about the pitch conditions due to the heavy rain in the morning, but thanks to the efforts of the management, we were able to play in good conditions.
We started the match very well, focusing on aggressive challenges for the ball. There were moments when we lost possession poorly and conceded counter-attacks, but we responded well.
Our goal came from a set piece. In the 24th minute of the first half, from a corner kick, Kobayashi's excellent ball perfectly met Fukuhara's run, who scored a superb header to give us the lead.
After that, we struggled a bit with the opponent's vertical speed, but the match was evenly contested. However, in the 36th minute of the first half, our central defense was completely broken down, a through pass led to a cross, and we conceded a goal from a second-line run.
In the second half, the back-and-forth battle continued, but in the 24th minute, a cross from the left led to a scramble, and we conceded another goal, putting us behind. After that, we struggled with the opponent's time-wasting tactics, but we didn't give up until the end and continued to press from the front.
In the 43rd minute, we capitalized on a defensive error from the opponent's back pass. Kikuchi was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and when the goalkeeper fumbled the ball while trying to evade him, Ito reacted quickly and slotted the loose ball into the goal. Although we had chances after equalizing, we couldn't convert them, leading to a penalty shootout.
The penalty shootout couldn't be decided after five takers, and the winner was determined by the sixth taker. The result was disappointing, but we showed a never-give-up attitude until the very end.
The other members (Kimura, Ishii, Nakayama, Ito, Isora, Ueki, Chen, and rehabilitation player Watanabe) who were not in today's starting lineup trained in the afternoon.
The training included running, acceleration drills, ball possession, pass & control, and one-on-one drills (3 vs 3 in front of the goal).
Since there is no match tomorrow, we plan to train in the morning.